1. Field of the invention
The present invention pertains to a device and to a process for acquiring files by accumulation of points, as well as to an associated interactive terminal and associated computer program.
2. Description of the related art
Advertising plays a key role for service providers, insofar as it gains them a significant share of their income. However, advertising messages being evermore present in our environment, on both television and radio, in newspapers or on Internet pages, consumers might seek to avoid them as much as possible. Techniques developed over the last few years permit in certain cases relatively efficient filterings for achieving same. In particular, digital video recorders make it possible for a program currently being transmitted to be viewed at some other time. One is thus readily able to pass speedily over the advertising pages, so as to start or resume the film or transmission in progress as quickly as possible.
What is more, the multiplicity of information channels is increasing the risk of witnessing a substantial reduction in the scope of the advertisements transmitted on a given channel. In order to overcome the scattering of consumer targets, it is becoming necessary to transmit one and the same advertisement repeatedly on several different channels. This situation, which raises advertising costs, might also have the drawback of giving the public or readers a feeling of insistence and of antagonizing them.
Advertisers are therefore confronted with new situations, which force the existing models to be called into question. To remedy these difficulties and encourage the availability of consumers to advertising messages, several solutions have been proposed. They are based on the active involvement of a viewer, listener or Internet user, who in exchange for his participation, is rewarded with “virtual” credits or points. These points subsequently enable him to acquire benefits, such as in particular invitations to shows or to exhibitions, reductions on purchases or privileged access to pay-per-view transmissions (free or reduction). The consumers' points are for example managed by a server in a specific account, which they can credit by agreeing to watch interactive advertisements or debit by purchasing services or goods.
Using this approach, the public can be made more attentive to advertisements, while giving them an active role and motivating them. An additional advantage of this approach is that it enables better targeting of the consumers at which the advertising messages are aimed, and makes it possible to obtain information about their consumption habits. Employed advisedly, it can thus permit both a selective refinement of advertisements vis àvis each consumer, which genuinely corresponds to his expectations and to his concerns, and gifts tailored to the tastes of each.
Thus, document WO-02/73967 discloses a method of marketing for interactive systems, in which viewers of contents transmitted by broadcasting, that is to say transmitted simultaneously and uniformly to a large number of receivers, earn points by responding to events presented during the transmission (the viewers thus attest to the following of several episodes or advertisements). These points can be exchanged for products or services, a website enabling information to be obtained on the points accumulated and the gifts available.
International application WO-02/56530 describes a method of tracking and of rewarding activities performed by individuals, such as participating in unveilings of prerecorded videos, visits to certain shops or connections to Internet sites. Rewards are granted in the form of points, which can be used to obtain goods and services.
Document WO-02/35433 sets forth a commercial method based on a monetary exchange by means of a client/server software engine. According to this method, advertisers promote products and services to targeted consumers, giving them credits and coupons when these consumers watch certain advertisements, participate in advertising activities (on-line or off-line) or undertake specific purchases. These credits and coupons can be spent or exchanged for contents, products or services. In particular, they can be used to acquire broadband contents, video on demand (VOD) or pay-per-view television (PPV)—cf. p. 5, I.19-26 and p. 14, I.5-9.
It is thus seen that, using these techniques, new business models relating to the obtaining of vidio or audio contents can take off. These models offer the free or reduced-price acquisition of such contents in exchange for predefined operations performed by consumers, listed in the prior documents cited (in particular, watching or listening to advertisements or consulting promotional Internet pages). The on-line exchanges render facilities of this type particularly practical and attractive. Specifically, the individuals consenting to these operations can choose and collect their goods directly, without waiting to have to go to shops or to receive future mail by post. For example, television viewers who have witnessed advertising programs and have aggregated enough credits obtain, by downloading, desired videos (VOD).
The development of exchanges of this type can also have the advantage of stimulating the markets for interactivity and VOD.
However, downloads of the contents earned may also entail a few drawbacks, since they might occupy a fairly wide bandwidth at the relevant individual's home for a relatively considerable duration. By way of example, if a 500 kbits/s ADSL (standing for “Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line”) link is fully available and if a video with a duration of 1 h 30 coded at 5 Mbits/s is transferred thereto, then 15 h of downloading is necessary in order for the individual to be able to retrieve it in full. In practice, the points earner would therefore have to ensure that his line is sufficiently available, initiate his download request and wait until the following day to be able to watch the desired film, while hoping that the quasi-exclusive demand for the line has not raised difficulties and that it will not all have to be done again in agreement with the provider of the video.